Asia | The revolution is over

The Philippines’s once-proud Maoist insurgents are out of ammo

The New People’s Army is a relic of all sorts of political stupidity

This photo taken on July 30, 2017 shows guerrillas of the New People's Army (NPA) resting among bushes in the Sierra Madre mountain range, located east of Manila.Fuelled by one of the world's starkest rich-poor divides, a Maoist rebellion that began months before the first human landed on the moon plods on even though the country now boasts one of the world's fastest-growing economies. / AFP PHOTO / Noel CELIS / TO GO WITH Philippines-unrest-communist-peace,FOCUS by Cecil MORELLA (Photo credit should read NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

May 4th 2023|MANILA

LaST MONTH the guerrilla leaders of the New People’s Army (NPA) ordered its units all over the Philippines to give a 21-gun salute to two fallen heroes. Yet this martial display was diminished by an instruction to give the salute silently, either because the army is out of bullets or for fear a fusillade would alert the police. The few hundred fighters who duly lined up (and presumably whispered “bang”) are all that remains of a once-formidable Maoist insurgency. The NPA was launched 54 years ago to overthrow an American-backed president, Ferdinand Marcos. It is now on the brink of yielding to his son and successor, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Out of ammo”